Big Butterfly Count -2019

This post outlines my Big Butterfly count results for 2018. It was obvious, even before doing the counts that we were getting more butterflies than usual, particularly grassland species.  People are asked count butterflies and a couple of the more distinctive moths for 15 minutes. The count is over for this year but more information including results can be found at https://www.bigbutterflycount.org/

It is obvious that quite a few Uckfield people have done counts giving good coverage of the town and surroundings. For example, I can see that someone has done a count in the field alongside Snatts Road and found 19 butterflies including a Painted Lady and 8 Common Blues.

This year and last I did counts in several places, focussing on those such as local playing fields and Holy Cross Church, where I have done plant surveys. For these notes, I've picked out 6 sites that I did in both 2019 and 2018. I got:

• a total 77 butterflies in 2019 compared to 52 in 2018
• 10 species in 2019 compared to 9 in 2018

The difference would have been even more dramatic but the last few counts for this year were reduced by windy weather.

Gatekeeper in Holy Cross Churchyard

Nearly all of the difference is accounted for in a real boom in Gatekeepers.  These are a medium-sized brown and orange butterfly.  They are very easy to confuse with the other common grassland butterfly, the Meadow Brown, but they tend to have more vivid markings and if you can get close enough to see the black eyespot - it contains two white dots instead of one.

The Gatekeeper is one of the grassland butterflies - it gets its name from it's habit of fluttering around in the gaps (gateways) in hedges etc.  Both of my best sites (with 25 butterflies and moths each) this year had significant areas of long grass:

• our own garden, where cultivated blooms, wild flowers - 7 species
• the Dene, which has a variety of long grasses (which had just been cut) - 5 species

6-spot Burnet Moth on long grass

Both the Dene and our garden attracted 6-Spot Burnet moths. The caterpillars of these colourful moths live on birds-foot trefoil, which is present on both our garden and The Dene.

Burnet moth Chrysalis

When they are ready to metamorphose (change) into a moth they climb up a grass stem and make a chrysalis.

Painted Lady sunbathing on a tombstone in Holy Cross churchyard

One of the real surprises this year was a Painted Lady attracted by the buddlia in the Holy Cross churchyard. Reports this year suggest that we are having the biggest migration of these butterflies since 2009.  I've compared the Uckfield counts in the 2019 and 2018 Big Butterfly Counts and found:

• 2019 - approx 17 Painted Ladies
• 2018 - approx 6 Painted Ladies

My own records (other than Butterfly Count) in iRecord give me:

• 2019 - 6 records for Uckfield, often more than 1 individual and 2 for Reading
• 2018 - 1 record for Duddleswell, 1 individual
• 2015 to 2017 - none
• 2014 - 2 records - both Uckfield, 1 individual each